1. How do you plan to address Loudoun’s housing affordability crisis?

The BOS just commissioned a comprehensive housing study to address this issue, and I expect to have a major role in both the substance and speed of deliberation of that commission’s work. We cannot take two years to learn we have a workforce and affordable housing crisis. I think the core issue relates to how we can shape the housing demand curve. The housing needs assessment indicated the strongest (most profitable) demand signal developers are responding to is still single-family detached housing. We need to examine innovative market incentives to create a more profitable demand signal for affordable/workforce housing than is now currently present.

The demand is clearly there, but under current market dynamics, profits are not. Asking developers to allocate a portion of new projects to W/ADU housing under current formulas helps, but isn’t solving the problem. I think the answer may lie in authorizing much higher densities around the metro stops in return for much higher W/ ADU percentages than are currently allowed. County subsidies is not a solution. We need to implement highly innovative, even cutting-edge housing solutions. Micro-floor plan condos tied to bike/pedestrian lifestyles could create new communities reducing traffic and offering reasonable housing prices.

2. Currently, roughly half of Loudoun County’s Capital Investment Plan is dedicated to transportation improvements. Do you support this level of priority for transportation investment? Please explain why, or why not.

During the Envision Loudoun Stakeholders Committee process, the county staff transportation team showed us the existing queue of projects totaling about $1 billion. They said their spend rate was about $100 million a year. So, the easy answer would be to increase that percentage and the speed of the projects. While I’m admittedly a layperson, I strongly favor a counterintuitive conclusion: we should be wary of creating induced congestion by focusing primarily on road improvements with CIP money. Some fixes are obvious and urgent; building an overpass at the Battlefield Parkway/Rte. 7 intersection and getting rid of the Lexington Dr. traffic light, for example. But a significant percentage of the CIP funding should be used to build a non-automobile, intra-county, multi-modal transportation network enabling people to move around without getting in their cars.

My top issue is connecting our county’s bike and pedestrian trails to each other and to the new Metro stops. I regularly receive universal praise for this idea from Ashburn residents I’m meeting on the doors. I also think we need to build an electric bus rotator system connecting our key retail and nighttime economy centers with our suburban communities and the new Metro stops.

3. Should Loudoun continue to encourage the future growth of our data center industry or do you feel certain restrictions are necessary?

Data centers cost the county $.12 for every dollar of revenue they generate for the county. We would be foolish to artificially truncate this revenue stream. At the same time, I’m encountering significant pushback from Ashburn residents about the number of data centers in the county. I think we need to be very selective about where we build data centers going forward and what kinds of design guidelines we impose on their construction. I think the M1, M2, M3 plots along route 50, for example, are good candidates for data center construction, and the Kuhn proposal to rezone to allow data centers near Willowsford seemed to be well received by Willowford residents. Data centers are also exacerbating the W/ADU housing shortage by reducing the amount of land available for new housing stock. Again, we need to carefully consider where data centers are built and their impact on housing going forward.

4. On June 20th the Board of Supervisors adopted the 2019 Comprehensive Plan. What are your thoughts on the adopted plan and how will you seek to improve upon it?

I spent two years developing the new plan as a member of the Envision Loudoun Stakeholders Committee. I felt the plan we produced was a good one representing a reasonable compromise among widely disparate stakeholder opinions. I did not support the Planning Commission’s revision of our original plan and was very pleased to see the county staff recommendations bring the final recommendation into line with our work on the stakeholders committee. The approved plan is a very rational and reasonable effort to accommodate inevitable growth, maximize our long-term economic potential while preserving the unique culture and quality of Loudoun County. I wish we had tackled the lack of available W/ADU housing as part of the plan. I also plan to propose a major initiative to expand and enhance the county’s bike/ped/green transit options to make Loudoun County a nationwide, multi-modal transportation showcase. We have the potential to expand our tourist economy and become a major bike/hike tourist destination from around the country. The W+OD trail represents the tip of the iceberg of what could become an entire trail–based economy for Loudoun County.

5. How will you seek to address the scarcity of available Class A office space in Loudoun County?

A recent article I read in BisNow suggested the demand for office space drops the farther the location is from our new Metro stops. This suggests developing high-density, mixed used communities incorporating significant office space in the new Urban Policy Areas near Metro. Making these bikeable/walkable communities and connecting them to other Loudoun mixed use communities is also important. The new zoning ordinances to be developed pursuant to the adoption of the new comprehensive plan will play a pivotal role in addressing this shortage. Creating improved intra-county, multi-modal transit options connecting new outlying, mixed-use office space like One Loudoun to the two metro stops is also vital. A rotator, electric bus circuit between Metro and Leesburg would enhance marketability of office space projects in and around Leesburg.

6. Please tell us why you are the best candidate for this office.

I helped rewrite the county’s comprehensive plan from 2016-2018 and developed a reputation within the stakeholders committee as a thoughtful, fair and capable planner. I also found I very much enjoy developing practical, sustainable solutions to highly complex county issues affecting the quality of life of our citizens. I’ve been in public service since I was seventeen, first as a USAF officer for 28 years and then as a national nonprofit executive for the past 22 years. I have personally knocked on thousands of doors in Ashburn District, know my community very well, and take great satisfaction in working to ensure Loudoun County remains the unique community I’ve loved since moving here in 2005. Though county supervisor is a part-time job, I will quit my current job and be a full-time supervisor. My experience on the stakeholders committee convinced me the next ten years in Loudoun County will determine its final “buildout” end state. The decisions we make will be critical for our future, and we need public servants who are open and receptive to good ideas regardless of their source and who have the energy, imagination and proven problem-solving skills to make those solutions reality. I believe my entire career reflects those qualities.
 

Source: BizVotes Candidates Questionnaire